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Building a 16610 with lots of gen parts (incl. R-Factory 3135 Movement)

kadeee

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I would like to share with you my experiences and experiences that I have gained while getting a Ref. 16610 built by a watchmaker.

First of all I did not plan to build a Submariner Date from (used) spare parts. But after I bought a Noob V7 116610 (and a Comex 5514 replica) I realized that I liked the reference 16610 much more than the actual one.
At that point I searched the web for used parts that where used in Ref. 16610.
I found a 3135 movement on eBay that was offered at a unusual low price (400 €). It was described as non working item with some missing or non gen parts inside the movemt. Also the datewheel was missing. From what I've seen on the pictures it was a real R-Factory movement. As my watchmaker already serviced my SA3135 movement in the 116610 LN Rep. I thought that he can fix it by adding a new datewheel and fix the other little problems so I'd hopefully would have a fully working 3135 movement.
Unfortunately this was not the case. Here are some pics of this

Front:
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2nd pic from the front:
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Back:
IMG-3427.jpg


And here is the major defect on that movement:
Broken bridge and non gen balance wheel
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My watchmaker confirmed that this movement was just scrap as the complete wheelset has been replaced with a China Clone wheelset. And the escape wheel was missing.


At the same time - I had no knowledge of the condition of the scrap movement at that time - I bought a high quality after market case for Ref. 16610 on eBay. This case came from the US and was really of a very high quality.

Another seller on eBay offered a beautiful dial with a unique S in Submariner.

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The look of my dial is absolutely authentic, I found this pic on the web:

star-wars-s-rolessor.png


I got matching hands from seller Michael Klan at tswisst and a 704 triploc Crown again from eBay.

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After struggling with the seller of the non working 3135 movement I was able to reverse the purchase of the movement and found a fully working and already serviced original 3135 movement on eBay.

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I still had no bezel ring and no bezel insert. As I like the look of the 16610 LV (Kermit) I ordered a bezel ring and a LV insert and a stem winding part at watchparts24 just to complete the watch and get it working.

I have seen some Rolex Sportis with a Nato Strap instead of the classic Oyster Bracelet and liked the look. So I ordered a brown NATO leather strap from Yukiwatch as a perfect match to my Sub.

And here is the result with the LV Insert from watchparts24:

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IMG-3745.jpg


I had the chance to get a blue gen insert and thats how it looks today:

IMG-3783.jpg


Steps still to do:

Switch the bezel ring and insert to gen parts and get the stem winding part shortened.

And I'm preparing another Franken project.
 
Last edited:

thehipp04

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This was a cool breakdown, nice build! Awesome that you were able to grab a gen 3135 movement.
 

kadeee

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Thank you, mate.

It‘s hard to get a fully working gen movement but not impossible.
I recently bought a 3035 movement for one of my next builds. It‘l be a 16803 „Rolessor“, also with a lot of gen parts.
 

xray7

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Old Dart
Lovely work on the 16610, my favourite all round reference.

I recently bought a 3035 movement for one of my next builds. It‘l be a 16803 „Rolessor“, also with a lot of gen parts.

May I ask how much you parted with for the 3035 movement? Open 6/9 on the DW?
 

kadeee

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Lovely work on the 16610, my favourite all round reference.



May I ask how much you parted with for the 3035 movement? Open 6/9 on the DW?

Will send you a PM
 

kadeee

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Thank you mate.

Collecting some missing parts for the "Rolessor" project.